U.S. new home sales fall in December

New home sales in the U.S. dropped in the month of December. Sales declined 9.3 percent to 625k, as compared with consensus expectations of a drop of 7.9 percent. Also, the previous months’ data were downwardly revised, taking the net revision in the fourth quarter to -69k. Barclays had expected sales to fall considerably in December after the outsized rise in November, which was viewed as mostly one-off and unsustainable.

Region wise, the decline in sales was widespread. Meanwhile, months’ supply of new homes rose to 5.7, in the midst of a rise in inventories and a slowdown in sales. The average price of new homes was up 4 percent sequentially.

“Today’s report was a touch weaker than expected and implies slightly lower residential investment in Q4. However, after rounding, our Q4 GDP tracker remains unchanged at 3.1 percent”, added Barclays.

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